1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bridge where one or two of the bridges are attached to opposing side rails of a wheelchair such that each bridge offers assistance and support for a user of the wheelchair during ingress into and egress from the wheelchair allowing the user to use upper body strength to accomplish the ingress and egress, each bridge capable of being pivoted out of the way.
2. Background of the Prior Art
People who are bound to wheelchairs must often leave the wheelchair for other purposes, such as going to the bathroom, entering a swimming pool, attending to physical therapy, going to bed, getting into a vehicle, getting into a shower, etc. Some wheelchair bound people are sufficiently ambulatory so that getting into and out of the wheelchair can be accomplished with relative ease, however, others must rely on assistance to accomplish such ingress and egress tasks.
Some wheelchair bound people are fortunate to have a fulltime assistant that helps such wheelchair bound people, with among other things, getting out of the wheelchair and back in without undue difficulty. However, as such personal assistants tend to be very expensive, few people are able to afford such a high level of care. Other wheelchair bound folks rely on wheelchair assist devices to help them get into and out of the wheelchairs. Such devices, which include hand grips attached to bathroom walls and shower stalls, etc.; have become quite prevalent over the last few years. However, not all facilities are so equipped and the wheelchair bound person must find other ways to enter and exit their wheelchair when such devices are nowhere to be found.
Some folks simply use the wheelchair itself as an aid in getting up and down. While some find the wheelchair as a sufficient support aid, others cannot use the wheelchair as an egress tool due to the inordinate amount of arm strength that is needed to pull oneself up out of the wheelchair. Others rely on assist devices such as canes that are carried with the wheelchair which assist devices are used to get up out the chair. However, carrying one or a pair of canes can be awkward and the use of these canes also can be quite difficult, especially if the wheelchair has a relatively wide wheelbase which requires that the canes are placed relatively wide with respect to the person using the canes. Additionally, the use of canes for pulling up requires a fair amount of arm strength to pull oneself up out of the seat of the wheelchair.
What is needed is a device that allows a person to be self-sufficient in a wheelchair so that the person can get out of the wheelchair and back in without having to rely on either another person or an external assist device for such egress and ingress. Such a device must not rely mainly on arm strength of the user and must not require that the wheelchair bound person need to rely on their entire upper body for proper use of the device. Such a device should not be unduly cumbersome to transport and should be of relatively simple design and construction and be easy to install and use by the wheelchair bound person.